


Scuro

by MsSolo



Series: Chiaroscuro [1]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Coming Out, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, No beta we die like mne, Propositions, Sex Education, Slow Burn, Tim Drake is Alvin Draper
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:21:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28486020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsSolo/pseuds/MsSolo
Summary: Tim is completely in the dark about Damian's motivations.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Damian Wayne
Series: Chiaroscuro [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086602
Comments: 12
Kudos: 89





	Scuro

**Author's Note:**

> So this is going to be a two part series, one fic from Tim's PoV, the other from Damian's. I'm still working on it, so I won't be updating for a while, but I wanted to post this prologue as a tease, and as a promise to have started updating it by the end of this year (I mean, ideally to have finished both parts of the series, but let's not over promise anything now!).
> 
> Damian is 18, Tim is 22, canon is mainly pre-52 (so Babs is Oracle & Steph is Batgirl) with occasional references to nu52 and Rebirth characters.

Tim's tired in that way only a day full of nothing can make a person: four in person meetings, two conference calls, a video conference that didn't work, a networking lunch and a mandatory video seminar on telework tools. He has achieved precisely nothing and somehow racked up three hours of overtime despite that.

So when he opens his apartment door he's not mentally prepared for any amount of something to confront him, let alone the very significant something that Damian, sitting in the dark, represents.

Luckily he's too tired to really react, even his heart barely mustering a couple of skipped beats. Damian is at the breakfast bar, dressed in his school uniform, eyes glittering in the darkness. He's too old now for the full horror movie haunted child affect, but it's pretty creepy nonetheless.

Tim flicks on the overhead lights. Damian doesn't even blink.

"Why are you here?" Tim asks, though what he really wants to know is how long he's been there. The uniform suggests he's come straight from school. Has he been sitting in the dark for hours? Why didn't Tim's alarms go off?

"I have a question."

"You could have messaged me."

"I need to ask in person."

Damian is sitting preternaturally still, tapping into his assassin training. He's nervous.

Tim swallows a yawn. He leaves his coat and bag by the door, and walks across the open-plan apartment to the kitchenette. He passes Damian and reaches for the coffee pot.

Damian swivels on his stool.

"Please, Drake."

"Please?"

Close up, Tim can see the wideness of Damian's eyes, the sheen of sweat on his brow.

"I need you to answer me seriously," Damian says. "I'm... I'm not joking."

"I didn't think you were. What do you need to ask?"

He really wants coffee. Or a nap. Both. He wants Damian to get this over with, whatever it is. Something awkward, maybe embarrassing, but not someone he'd go to Dick about. Needs to clear his internet browsing history before Bruce sees it? A sext that needs wiping from someone else's phone? It's hard to imagine Damian having that sort of relationship with someone, but he's nearly eighteen now. Just because he's never introduced a girl or boyfriend to the family doesn't mean he's ace.

Still, Bruce has drilled the importance of discretion into all of them often enough that Tim thinks it's unlikely there are unedited pics of Damian out there. Vale would have published them already if there were. Bad grades, then? Some kind of bullying that Dick wouldn't relate to?

If Damian would just let him have a coffee first, Tim could probably figure it out without Damian having to say anything, which surely is the least cringe worthy approach for both of them.

"Will you have sex with me?"

Tim's brain stops.

"Now? In the kitchen?"

Damian responds with an arched brow that perfectly conveys the idea Tim is the one asking weird questions in this conversation.

Tim blinks repeatedly as his brain reboots.

He can see why this has to be an in person question, and why Damian had stressed it wasn't a joke. It's too much - too serious, too blunt, too Damian - for Tim to suspect anything other than complete sincerity.

He's been waiting in his apartment for hours to proposition Tim. The least Tim can do is respond to his request with the same gravity Damian delivered it with.

"Are you under the influence of any substance or toxin? Ivy? Scarecrow?"

Damian shakes his head stiffly.

"Alcohol?"

"No."

"Are you or anyone else going to come to harm depending on my answer?"

"No."

Tim considers, trying to find another angle to come at this from.

Damian scowls at his hesitation. "Cease stalling, Drake. Is there any question you can ask that would change your answer?"

Tim catches his bottom lip between his teeth.

"No. That is, no it wouldn't, and no, I won't have sex with you."

Damian pushes himself off the stool and grabs his school bag.

"Thank you. Good night."

"Are you going to tell me what this is really about?" Tim reaches a hand out, but stops short of grabbing Damian's blazer.

Damian doesn't pause. Doesn't even react as he strides across Tim's apartment. Tim's left the front door open, and he pulls it closed behind him.

Well, fuck.

Tim needs something stronger than coffee.


End file.
